New Order Singles

Singles is a greatest hits album by English rock band New Order. It was released on 3 October 2005 by London Records. The two-disc compilation includes the band's singles released between 1981 and 2005. Unlike the CD version of earlier singles compilation Substance 1987, the B-sides are not included. While Substance 1987 aimed to showcase New Order's 12-inch singles, Singles instead features mostly seven-inch versions, some of which are rare and differ from the album versions…

Now that Waiting for the Sirens' Call has been officially declared part of New Order's history, only eight months after release, it's time once again to reassess the group in the form of a mostly redundant compilation. Rhino calls Singles the group's "first ever career-spanning two-disc retrospective," but it's more like the group's first compilation to contain tracks from Sirens' Call. Besides, 1987's Substance spanned the group's career upon release and remains the basis for most New Order compilations (this one included), so it's no big deal. Just as importantly, over a third of the contents date from 1993 onward; that's too high a percentage to make the set an ideal introduction. Considering its title, Singles has a clear-cut purpose, unlike 2002's International. Then again, each of the 14 tracks contained on International are also here - what amounts to an inferior version of Substance with some crucial tracks squeezed out in favor of lesser, later singles…

New Order‘s Singles compilation from 2005 was beset by problems including a highly compressed ‘remastering’ and incorrect versions of some tracks. Warners have fixed these issues and released a new and improved version of this compilation on 2CD and 4LP vinyl in September 2016.

Rising from the ashes of the legendary British post-punk unit Joy Division, New Order triumphed over tragedy to emerge as one of the most acclaimed bands of the 1980s; embracing the electronic textures and disco rhythms of the underground club culture many years in advance of its contemporaries, the group's pioneering fusion of new wave aesthetics and dance music successfully bridged the gap between the two worlds, creating a distinctively thoughtful and oblique brand of synth pop appealing equally to the mind, body, and soul.

Substance is a double-disc set collecting New Order's singles, including several songs that were never available on the group's albums, at least in these versions. While there are a couple of re-recordings of earlier singles, most of Substance consists of 12" single mixes designed for danceclub play. Arguably, these 12" mixes represent New Order's most groundbreaking and successful work, since they expanded the notion of what a rock & roll band, particularly an indie rock band, could do. Substance collects the best of their remixes, and in the process it showcases not only the group's musical innovations, but also their songwriting prowess - "Temptation," "Blue Monday," "Bizarre Love Triangle," and "True Faith" are some of the finest pop songs of the '80s. Although it is a double-disc set, Substance isn't overly long. Instead it offers a perfect introduction to New Order, while providing collectors with an invaluable collection of singles.